F-Stop Junkie

The reason why I ask is that the Mk1 Escort Cosworth with the high wing was a homologation special and had a mahoosive turbo which was the right spec for the rally car, but awful for the road engine with a whole lotta lag. The Mk2 had a smaller, more driveable turbo with the same power out the box. The torque limiting was on all Mk1 Focus RS's.

The Mk1 did go through a bit of a tweak after it had a bit of a slating from the press, but it was only 15bhp down on the Escort and 80kg lighter. What won it for the Escort (Was is a high spoiler or low spoiler version?) was that the Mk1 Focus RS is torque limited in the first two gears to control torque steer. If it didn't have that - and was driven by someone who knew how to drive - then it would probably have been much, much closer.

Damp track? No contest. Especially if the Cossie was on modern tyres. Proper driving though? Escort wouldn't see the Focus's brake lights.

Sorry to bring facts into this, but... Escort RS (Mk1) 227bhp 1360kg 167bhp/ton Focus RS (Mk2) 301bhp 1467kg 205bhp/ton Ah, you say, but the Cosworth is four wheel drive! Surely that'll give better traction! Well, in the dry where the Focus isn't traction limited to a large extent then all it will do is soak up power in the drive train. Plus the Escort was originally spec'd with ditchfinder tyres, while the Focus RS's rubber has been noted for how soft it is. I can't see that YouTube video here, but if the Escort won by anything but a tiny margin, then it's been modified.

I think 2002 or earlier is old school. Pre-'98 is monolithic. Oh, come September this year, I'll have been involved in trials (to a greater or lesser degree) for 14 years...

Evo ran the two back to back. The Escort RS Cosworth was 'like driving in treacle' compared to the Focus... Engine not massively powerful, old tyres, suspension, etc...

Music in cars, good thing. Spending thousands and thousands on a stereo to be put in an acoustically awful listening environment, bad thing. Plus once you're actually moving, you've got wind noise, tyre roar and engine noise to muffle that expensive stereo. (Not aimed at you personally Pashley, just making the point...) Oh, why is the volume of music inversely proportional to the quality of the music being played?

Man plays stereo loud, gets free burger from dubious supplier. I'm so glad I don't go to cruises! What's the obsession with car stereos anyway? I can't think of a worse environment to try and listen to music even when the car's stationary.

You said it yourself, it's still a 106.

But that's like saying "It's still MDF, but what a piece of MDF!" There's an expression regarding turds and polishing that I can't quite remember... Wow, boy can fabricate! That's a heck of a job. Unfortunatley... He takes self-portraits like a gimp.

Not to mention the Ferrari can do 20,000 miles between services, cope on bad roads and in baking sun, and still be worth more than £250 at the end of it.

There's a reason why there's more 911's in the Nurburgring car park than pretty much anything else... Anyway, how about a '73 2.7 RS? Yours for a mere £135k

A genuine E30 M3 yesterday: Nowt that special, there's hundreds of the buggers! Man drives shit car for being a twat shocka! If you saw me pull up in the 911, would you really think I work in IT for a multi-national bank? Actually yes, you might...

Which he wouldn't, because it doesn't have 385bhp. Plus I couldn't hear the thrashy engine over the nice Bose stereo Running on slicks, and has an engine with a drag strip power delivery and a propensity of being on it's roof when it reaches a corner...

I've driven a 997 Porsche 911 Carerra S, is it as quick as that? A friend of mine works as a chassis engineer for Jaguar in Germany, and talking to him about how the develop cars it's made me realise just how finely adjustments are made and considered. To come up with a set up which rides well and handles neutrally is just so incredibly difficult. With a set of three way adjustable dampers I'd make a pig's ear of it so, so quickly.

A friend of mine has spent probably £10k on his £3k MX-5, but he's doing it because he enjoys the engineering work he's doing, the design, the fabrication. He could have just bolted on a turbo and gone quick, but he's doing the work, he's taking the time to set the car up, and he's the one enjoying the work going into the car as much as driving it. Plus he understands what he's doing. The problem is that a lot of people don't understand. They slam the car to the deck which completely mucks up the suspension geometry so the car doesn't ride properly. The run the shocks too hard to stop the tyres rubbing which makes the ride even worse and compromises both cornering grip and traction, but they're happy as the car now "Handles like a go-kart innit!" No, the car now handles like a ruined Saxo. The big wheels have raised the centre of gravity, the shortened springs mean you're now running massive amounts of camber wearing tyres even more quickly than if you stopped wheel spinning, and "you can now burn off 911s!!!" is no more true than how the new down pipe you bought for the exhaust has given you 35bhp! I'm all for making a car what you want, but I'm also aware of what Colin Chapman (a man who knew a thing or two about cars) said. "Make the suspension adjustable and they will adjust it wrong -- look what they can do to a Weber carburetor in just a few moments of stupidity with a screwdriver."

Wow, such a shock! Hoping you have a speedy recovery back to full trial running form soon Terry!

Rider doesn't ride well enough in qualifying events. Doesn't get picked. End of thread?

I thought rationing ended after the war?

GET THE PITCH FORKS!!! Person in uninformed Internet rant shocka. What are the reasons? What are the facts? Can British Cycling afford to give trials riders (a tiny sport) the same treatment as XC/DH/Road/Track riders (big sports, some olympic)? How much of the travel and accomodation for XC and DH riders is picked up by sponsors? How much of the trials riders costs are picked up by sponsors? Perspective and balance please. Oh, and some facts would be nice, not just lots of foot stomping rhetoric.

Impsport and Endura both do custom stuff, and are British!

How would you say 2023 then?

The Atom and Exige both run barely legal slicks, and both have a lot of power (hence good power/weight ratios) so make up time under acceleration. The Exige also has the advantage of decent aero to help stabilise the car through the faster sections. Still not any real measure of a car.

I think Gambon is the final corner... Look down the lap list - assuming that it's accurate and not just made up to fit the urge of the programme makers - and you'll see at the top are cars like the SLR and the Veyron. Not great handling cars. Where the top cars make up time is the first straight and the run from the hammerhead to the last but one corner. There's no long testing corners, bumps, undulations or anything of that which would require handling.

Especially coming from a 14 year old...